Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 47 What Rommel couldn't do, Lelouch can still do.
At 2 p.m. sharp, the 1st Assault Battalion, where Lelouch was stationed, dug several more gaps, each more than a kilometer deep, in the forward positions of the Bujun forces on the southwest side of the railway.

The A Company, which he personally commanded, was also gradually becoming exhausted and needed a short rest. The soldiers stayed in the trench, drinking large gulps of cold water.

But the overall offensive momentum did not stop. Captain Rommel's B Company, with great coordination, bypassed the positions that Lelouch had just captured and continued to advance.

The key to commando tactics lies in the continuity of the attack!
It is better to have fewer soldiers deployed to the front lines at the same time and to open a narrower gap, so that the reserves can have enough energy to recover, than to allow any interruption or disconnection.

As Rommel passed by Lelouch, Lelouch stopped him and shared some observations he had just made:
"The enemy's will to resist doesn't seem so strong. It seems they were frightened by the supplementary artillery fire support we provided before noon. So they dare not defend the entire front line, fearing that our artillery might launch a counterattack. You need to grasp this defensive characteristic of the enemy and see if you can take advantage of it."

……

Rommel quickly took over from Lelouch and continued to advance northwest.

Company B is in excellent form and their attacks are extremely fierce.

In contrast, the opposing army was exhausted. Everyone had been on the line since noon, with no time to rest, and had been tense for two hours.

Rommel positioned two platoons of submachine gun squads in a loose infiltration formation, and they quickly slipped into another trench, suppressing another group of enemy soldiers using Lee-Enfield rifles.

In the midst of the melee, the enemy seemed to have been driven to desperation, and the engagement distance was getting closer and closer.

The Burmese army was also completely bloodthirsty. Seeing that they were at a disadvantage in the firefight, some soldiers lay down in the pile of dead bodies and placed Rommel's vanguard close to them before suddenly getting up and stabbing him with their gleaming bayonets.

The assault team member at the front was caught off guard and stabbed to death. The submachine gunners behind him reacted immediately, firing wildly and emptying their magazines, taking down five or six enemies in the confined space.

But he didn't have time to change the magazine. The two sides had already fallen into a melee, so he could only abandon his submachine gun and grab an entrenching tool to fight back.

The German soldiers in the back ranks, fearing they might accidentally injure their comrades, grabbed entrenching tools and Mauser rifles with bayonets fixed and joined the fray.

With muffled "thuds," soldiers of the Bu army had their skulls smashed and necks broken.

During the fierce battle, the Burghers also killed or wounded several German soldiers, but they soon discovered that their bayonets were only for offense, not defense.

In the narrow trenches, if you tried to parry an enemy's shovel with your rifle, the bayonet on your rifle would easily get stuck in the soil of the side wall, and you would end up getting your head split open without even realizing it.

After the initial melee, the German commandos quickly learned a simple lesson from this life-or-death struggle.

They spontaneously formed hand-to-hand combat groups of two or three people, with some specializing in blocking and others focusing on slashing. Meanwhile, the opposing Bu army could only thrust and stab, making the difference in skill immediately apparent.

After a bloody battle, the remnants of Bu's army finally collapsed. As they fled, they were shot down from behind by a barrage of submachine gun fire, leaving a trail of corpses.

Simple infantry trench warfare is simply no match for assault teams!
Rommel's company thus advanced steadily at a pace of one or two hundred meters per quarter hour.

Although the breakthrough was narrow, it was deep enough, and he was not worried at all about his way in being cut off. He just kept going forward and plunged deeper into the territory.

……

Major General Rawlinson of the 3rd Division, who was in charge of the defense line on the south side of Bayole, soon learned of the unusual collapse at the front.

Lelouch and Rommel's assault team's digging caused him immense suffering.

"Commander! Those mysterious enemy assault teams have breached another two kilometers of our position in just two hours! I've never seen the enemy launch such a desperate attack! Their close-quarters firepower is too fierce!"

Listening to the reports from the frontline regimental and battalion commanders, Luo Linsen was extremely frustrated. He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Where is the artillery coverage we called for? Why didn't the artillery take out the charging enemy?!"

"Commander! The enemy's attack is too small and too flexible! The artillery response is too slow! If we expand the shelling coverage area, we are likely to accidentally hit friendly forces!" The front-line officers complained desperately, trying to prove that it was not their incompetence, but that the enemy was too cunning.

Rawlinson was so anxious that veins bulged on his forehead. He gritted his teeth and roared, "Expand the shelling coverage area! Don't worry about friendly fire! Tell your men to stay hidden in the trenches!"

This approach, of course, comes at a cost: the soldiers remain completely hidden, compromising both alertness and defensive effectiveness. But Rawlinson is now focused on choosing the lesser of two evils, hoping to expand the artillery coverage area and eliminate those unknown enemies.

……

"The enemy's artillery fire is getting more and more intense; they're bombing their own people too! We must be careful not to peek out; instead, we'll charge along the trenches and advance along the communication trenches!"

Rommel immediately noticed Rawlinson's change in artillery tactics.

It must be said that in terms of battlefield talent and intuition, Rawlinson, despite being a major general, was far inferior to Rommel, a captain.

After losing a dozen or so soldiers, Rommel realized a new problem and abandoned all attempts to "take shortcuts and break through on the ground," instead opting to strictly follow the trenches in his assault.

Although the number of trenches is relatively small, and sometimes it requires taking a long detour or even killing more enemy soldiers guarding the trenches, it is still better than advancing on the ground in areas indiscriminately covered by artillery fire.

Rommel was well aware of his strengths and weaknesses. With his submachine gun, he had no fear of encountering several times his number of riflemen while clearing trenches!
His countermeasures quickly proved effective.

Rawlinson had barely managed to halt the assault battalion with his new tactic of "indiscriminate artillery fire" when it was countered by a new assault tactic of "sweeping trenches with concentrated submachine gun squads." Rommel's losses increased, but his advance speed was maintained, and his kill-to-enemy ratio remained strong.

After the remnants of the 3rd Division were attacked for another half hour, Rawlinson finally managed to sort out the myriad of new bad news from the front lines.

Fortunately, he still possessed the basic qualities of a major general and quickly came up with another strategy.

"The enemy has abandoned the ground offensive, so we need to adjust the deployment of our heavy machine gun positions accordingly! Stop blocking the ground attack routes, deploy them along the flanks of our trenches! Especially block the communication trenches between the front and rear trenches!"

Having suffered so many losses, Bu Jun finally learned a lesson from the blood and lives lost.

Since this kind of mysterious small-unit assault will not take the usual route, there is no point in putting the cumbersome Vickers heavy machine gun team in the original position to "block the usual route".

The heavy machine guns of the Bu army must also be deployed according to the situation, facing the direction in which the enemy is most likely to appear!

The heavy machine gun crews of the Bu army near the direction of the assault team's attack all began to frantically disassemble and move their guns.

Before long, dark gun barrels were pointed at the trenches that were originally used by friendly forces when they retreated.

……

"Attack! Keep attacking! Disrupt the enemy completely!"

Since Rommel took over, he has advanced another two kilometers. It is now four or five o'clock in the afternoon, but he is still full of vigor, tired but extremely excited.

At noon, there was still a 6-kilometer-deep enemy defensive line in front of them. Later in the first half of the afternoon, Lelouch advanced 2 kilometers, and now he has advanced another 2 kilometers. So there are only 2 kilometers left before he reaches the edge of Baylor town, and there is a good chance that he can achieve this after dark.

In the era of infantry offensives, advancing a cumulative 9 kilometers in a single day in fortified territory was an incredible feat! Rommel felt that the tactics employed by his battalion would surely be recorded in military history.

However, just as Rommel continued his attack, a sudden change occurred ahead.

His submachine gunners had just cleared a corner where a trench met a normal trench with grenades and fired a few shots before routinely crouching down to search and advance.

But after only a dozen or so steps, the sound of heavy machine gun fire rang out!
Most of the eight soldiers in the assault team collapsed to the ground in agony in an instant, while the few who were not injured managed to escape by immediately lying down and crawling behind the dead.

An entire eight-man assault team was wiped out by heavy machine gun fire! It's all our fault for charging too aggressively and getting a little overconfident!

Rommel felt a rush of blood to his head, but he quickly forced himself to calm down, gritting his teeth and saying with a ferocious expression:

"Take cover! The dog has moved the heavy machine gun into the trench and is firing from the side to block it! Don't go up!" Immediately, a platoon leader crouched down and walked up to him to ask, "Company commander! Should we call in artillery fire? Or should we call in the cannon battalion for support?"

Rommel's forehead was visibly beaded with cold sweat. After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth and refused: "Calling in artillery support is too slow! Sending a message, reporting the location, calibrating, and firing—it takes at least 20 minutes!"

The enemy only has one or two heavy machine guns; there's no need to drag this out. Where are the grenade launcher teams? Bring me a few more grenade launcher teams, not just your platoon!

Immediately, two platoons formed a group of six grenade launchers next to him, and then they began to observe the positions of the heavy machine gun groups that were blocking the two trenches of the Bu army.

"400 yards, direction 77, test fire!"

The grenade streaked across the sky at an angle of nearly 70 degrees, flying hundreds of yards before landing far behind the trenches controlled by the Bu army.

"Quickly, teach me how to shoot! The first shot is too far!"

The soldiers in the grenade launcher group adjusted their tactics repeatedly and fired five or six more rounds, but the shots still went too far.

Ordinary soldiers don't understand math and have little experience using this new weapon, so they were immediately flustered.

Fortunately, Rommel was quick-witted and tactically astute. He frowned and pondered for a moment before suddenly understanding and decisively issuing the order:

"Never mind why it's too far! Hold the grenade launcher steady during the test firing! Based on how far the previous shot went, shorten the aiming range and fire three rapid-fire rounds at a time to cover all groups!"

Following Rommel's new orders, the grenadiers in all six groups gripped their grenade launchers tightly, even padding them with temporary materials to prevent them from tilting due to recoil after firing. Once the observers estimated how far the launchers had gone, they shortened the launchers' reach and fired several rounds in quick succession.

Nearly 20 grenades flew toward that position, and the two Vickers heavy machine guns, which were deployed in a cross pattern, were finally blown to pieces.

Seeing that the final result was acceptable, and that it proved his earlier flash of inspiration, Rommel seized the opportunity to admonish his officers:

"Continue the attack using this method! Deal with heavy machine guns blocking the trenches in the same way!"
The reason you couldn't hit the target when using the grenade launcher according to the pre-war training methods is because the pre-war training was too mechanical. It must have been because the training ground was too flat, and you were able to estimate the range just by memorizing the standard holding action.

But the actual battlefield is not a training ground. This place is muddy and rugged; you can't even find a flat spot as your launch position! So your hands must not shake! Before firing, secure the launch tube, and calibrate based on the error of the previous shot—don't worry about theoretical values!

Grenade launchers are much lighter than mortars, but they are much harder to use than mortars. The key difference is that grenade launchers do not have a base and cannot be leveled before deployment like mortars.

Therefore, relying on muscle memory to estimate range for grenade launcher operators results in significant errors.

The position where a person stands may not be flat. If you stand on a sloping surface, you introduce environmental errors, which will render most of the theoretical values ​​and muscle memory you have trained useless.

It's like someone taking a driving test. When practicing reversing, they force themselves to memorize a rock or a small tree in the test area as reference points and how far to turn the steering wheel. But when they actually drive on the road, the reference points change, and they have to practice at least seven or eight times before they can reverse into the parking space.

The battlefield experience that Rommel had just had a flash of inspiration about turned out to be the most relevant to the actual situation.

The grenadiers of B Company learned Rommel's analysis on the spot, which helped them regain their confidence and continue the attack with their comrades.

……

"The enemy has deployed a large number of grenade launchers! Our heavy machine gun squads blocking the trenches have all been wiped out!"

"Colonel, we really can't hold on anymore! The enemy's firepower is too flexible and fierce. The brothers are being bombed so badly they're completely disoriented!"

As Rommel continued to work his way up, he desperately pushed forward several hundred meters, getting closer and closer to the town of Bayole.

The enemy had run out of new tricks to impede him, and Rommel fought with increasing ferocity. In the end, the only thing that could stop him was the rapid depletion of his ammunition.

Whether it's a blitzkrieg or a storm raid, both consume enormous amounts of logistical supplies.

Rommel realized that the actual combat situation was not right and that he could only use rapid fire from grenade launchers to eliminate enemy heavy machine gun nodes. The cost was that the grenades carried by the entire company were consumed at an extremely fast rate.

Such covering fire could take out two cross-positioned heavy machine guns, potentially requiring the use of hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

After eliminating three or five firing points, and considering the previous losses, Rommel's company finally realized that they had almost run out of grenades!

Even if each soldier carries an average of a dozen or so grenades, it's not enough for the entire company!

The same situation occurred with Captain Lister's C Company.

"There's no other way, we can't rush it any further. From now on, we need to conserve our ammunition. It's better to be slower and call for precision artillery support. Also, get Lelouch's A Company to come up and replace us as soon as possible. Whether we can break through Bayol today depends on his A Company."

Rommel had no choice but to compromise, and then reluctantly stopped in front of a rammed earth bunker defense line. He then ordered his platoons to send out telegrams to call for artillery support from the cannon battalion.

Ten minutes later, Major William Keitel’s 105mm cannon began firing in the general direction of the commando’s reported position.

The first round went wide, but the communications soldier kept reporting the location and correcting it, adjusting it every 3-4 minutes. After three adjustments, the shell landed squarely on the Bu army's rammed earth bunker, directly destroying a 2-pound direct-fire cannon and three heavy machine guns.

The enemy troops on the opposite side were once again shocked. They simply could not understand why a small enemy commando unit that had penetrated so far into enemy territory could still call in such precise artillery fire.

The army began to panic. With Rommel's desperate charge, the enemy, having lost its stronghold, was forced to retreat again, and another gap was torn in their defenses.

Unfortunately, while this attack was precise, its pace was much slower. Eliminating a stronghold every 20 to 30 minutes meant they couldn't advance very far before nightfall.

When Lelouch brought the rested A Company back up to take over, Rommel only helped him charge forward a few hundred meters before he was exhausted.

"Whether we can get around Bayole tonight depends on you. We can't do anything about it," Rommel sighed regretfully, yet with a touch of pride.

"Don't worry, leave it to me. You've done a great job," Lelouch reassured Rommel and Lister.

Rommel: "There's another problem. If you want to get around Bayole, you can't just call for artillery support from the rear. If you push any further, you'll be almost out of the maximum range of Major Keitel's cannon battalion. We've already advanced a full 9 kilometers today! We'll have to wait until Major Keitel moves the cannon battalion forward and redeploys it tomorrow before he can support us."

Lelouch: "It's alright. The further we go, the worse and less fortified the enemy's positions become. Even without precise cannon support, I can still break through with grenade launchers!"

"The grenade launcher isn't as effective in actual combat as we imagined during training. I've discovered several minor problems today..." Rommel said, quickly explaining the issues he had encountered.

Upon hearing this, Lelouch frowned slightly for a moment, but quickly relaxed again.

He seemed very confident in his math and geometry skills, patting Rommel on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I graduated from the architecture department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Geometric calculations are my forte, and I don't care about large environmental errors."

-

PS: The battlefield details might have been a bit too fragmented, which caused me to miss some updates.

I'm done. Another 8,000 words today. The second update was already 5,000 words.

I'm begging everyone to keep up with the updates, please don't complain about the slow pace. Whether the book gets published on Twitter or online depends on this.

This is quite rare, considering I've been updating 8,000 words a day during the free period.

Even if you feel it's written in too much detail, with too much math and counting principles, you haven't been paid yet, right?

(End of this chapter)